About Us

Thursday, May 31, 2012

This Sunday May 27th, Trader1 Whiplash was the volunteer (victim) for a "Bid Me Bald" event by the Relay Rockers. Trader had agreed to be hairless for a day for each five thousand Lindens raised. The event raised 41,000 Lindens, so Trader will be bald for a total of eight days.

A notecard stated the event was started "by Trader Whiplash and the Relay Rockers team in 2007. The team had promised to go bald with Trader if he lost his hair during his treatment for Leukemia. Trader suggested instead that a fund raising event be created where people could honor survivors by allowing themselves to be 'Bid Bald.' Since that point the Rockers have raised 100s of 1000s of $L with its signature event. It is shared by many other teams and has spwaned many other Bid Me Events. Traditionally each year Trader is the first to be Bid Bald by the Rockers."

When he first targeted them, it was nothing personal. Just go in, grab a few Lindens, and leave. Simple as that. But instead everything went wrong and he ended up in the slammer for a while. Since then, he'd tried and tried again to rob this Podex Bank. And every time bad luck would throw his plans into a tailspin. He could almost hear these guys laughing at him. They were even referring to him as "Clumsy Cooper" as a joke.

He'd discovered this old map by sheer coincidence, a map of a tunnel network running under a number of places. And one branch led under Moonbeam, and under the Podex bank building. All he had to do was follow the tunnels, dig a few feet, break in, get the Lindens, and go back out the way he came.

Going through the tunnels, they were simple at first. But then the chambers and larger passages became full of sets of bars, resulting in a kind of maze. And it wasn't long before be began getting lost. He sighed in frustration. Would he be once again be denied his prize? Would be be denied the victory that would vindicate all the effort he spent?

It was then he noticed something moving in the shadows. Cautious, he crept closer, and found a girl, a brownish vixen. Her unusual feature, two tails, with a band near the base with a glowing star. He thought he was unseen, but he brushed against a loose bar, which fell and clanged against another.

The girl turned and smiled, "Oh, hi there. I don't get many visitors here. Who are you?"

"Hi Cooper, I'm Jasmine." She gave a sweet smile, "I come here to pick a few mushrooms. What'cha doin?"

"Um, exploring. I wanted to check out what was under the Moonbeam area."

"Moonbeam? I know where that is. Need help?"

"Oh yes." Cooper smiled, his luck was improving after all.

And so Jasmine led him through the maze-like passages. They soon were under the Moonbeam area, and not far from the bank. Cooper was already counting the Lindens in his head. Then they went through a passage that reminded Cooper of a prison area with cell-like chambers with bunks in them. He did his best to put that out of his mind. Then she walked into one such cell and began looking under one of the bunks.

"What're you looking for?" Cooper asked her.

"I had some keys to a door up ahead under here. Can you help me?"

He then got down and began looking under the bunk. After a couple moments though, he heard a metallic slam. He turned, and he found the door shut, and Jasmine looking at him from outside with a cunning grin, the keys in her hand.

"Wha- what was that for?"

"I know who you are, Clumsy Cooper. And I know why you're here. You wanted to use my tunnels to rob my neighbors."

"How did you - I mean no I didn't!"

"Don't worry, I won't keep you here. I'll just call the police and they'll take you out, to jail."

"No! Please, let me go."

"So you can rob my neighbors again?"

Cooper got on his knees, "Please, please please! I'll never come down here to rob them again, I swear."

The vixen looked at him, then her look softened, "Well, all right. you can go. But remember your promise."

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" Jasmine then let him out, and the humbled Cooper followed her to an exit.

"Here you go. If I ever see you again in my tunnels, it better not be anywhere near the bank."

"Cross my heart, hope to die." Cooper then left the tunnel network and was back on the surface. He wasn't angry, just glad to be out of his predicament.

Some time later, Jasmine approached the bank. Cooper did seem kind of cute, almost snuggly and huggable. He just had to be watched when it came to the matter of valuables. But she had a feeling he would honor his promise to at least leave the tunnel network out of his robbery plans. But even if he had made it to the bank, the silly Cooper wouldn't have walked away with a single Linden. All business was done through electronic transfer. There was never any threat to the banks' funds.

She walked up to a teller, who asked, "Hi, may I help you?"

The Podex Exchange has a record of being one of the safest Linden exchange services in Second Life, the data processing done outside the exchange, and has a record of thousands of satisfied customers. Transactions can be done at their website, or their location inworld at Moonberry (26, 223, 34).

Note: The preceding is a fictional story, written for the dual purpose of advertisement and entertainment.

Gemma Cleanslate recently went to a concert, a musical tribute to the Bee Gees. The band from the 70s made news recently when one of the members passed away. Here in Second Life, it was a chance for the band to live again, as the tribute played before a packed audience.

On Sunday May 27th, Patriot Island held it's monthly Wounded Warrior benefit. Held at the hangar bay stage in the eastern part of the sim, musicians performed for the crowd as they donated cash into two kiosks on either side of the stage, resembling overturned helmets. It was Memorial Day weekend, and the bar was set high. It was announced their goal was a total amount of 275,000 Lindens that night.

For the first hour, Avantgarde Frequency performed for the crowd as the Lindens were tossed into the helmet kiosks, strumming his guitar. Then came Frets Nirvana, the organizer of the event, with his own guitar. Following Frets was Voodoo Shilton, and Mulder Watts on stage together. The audience numbered close to fifty residents at times. Among them were CNN iReporter Any1 Gynoid, and two leading members of the RFL Passionate Redheads team, Sabine McGettin and Dusk Griswold.

As time went on, the Lindens piled up. Occasionally someone offered to chip in an amount, such as 500 or 1000 Lindens, if someone matched their donations. "Come on, this is for a good cause guys! Who's gonna match me?" While Frets Nirvana played, the total passed 200,000 Lindens. When his time on stage was up at 8PM, the total raised was a little shy of the goal at 239,000 Lindens.

Then at 8:03, one or two persons chipped in a massive amount, raising the total by 79,000 Lindens "Yayayay! 79 K!" The amount raised rose to 319,000, and the fundraiser goal had been reached, "Did you just say we made 320K?" Over and over again, people were told, "… thanks for the WW donation." "… thanks for the awesome WW donation." The total went up to 330, then past 340 and 350. Finally at 9:20, "Ohhhhhhhh wow! 375,000 total!" "Woot! 375k!" "Great show guys, thanks!" "U guys killed it! Played hard. Thats how i like to hear it! YAY!" "YAAAAAY FRETS!" "That's awesome, 375000. (grins) That's about 1500 USD!!!" "Voodoo, Mulder, thank you both so very VERY much. You guys were awesome tonight."

Frets Nirvana himself spoke, "Excellent folks, just excellent. Just made my Memorial Day weekend, and our vets!

Patriot Island is owned by the US Military Veterans Group. Besides home to a community of vets and the location of public events, it is in part a memorial site, a replica of the Tomb of Unknowns in the center. So visitors are asked to be respectful while visiting. The Wounded Warrior Project is a nonprofit group devoted to "honor and empower wounded warriors" of the US Military. The Project "began when several individuals took small, inspired actions to help others in need. The resulting objective was to provide tangible support for the severely wounded and help them on the road to healing, both physically and mentally."

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

It's a week full of events on the Grid. From the Jubilee in London, to an exhibition on machinima, there are plenty of unique events to go to. And of course there are our regularly scheduled live music & DJ events, book and poetry readings, races, and more.

And of course, there's the beginning of Second Life Newser's Second Aniversary Week.

The Virtual Museum of Architecture is having a Jukebox building contest.The Build-Off is open to all SL residents.The Jukebox must be less than 30 prims, be created specifically for this contest, and be able to play at least one 1950’s music steam.The winner will receive $1,000L.

The entry fee is $100L.A notecard is available at the Registration Board located at the Virtual Museum of Architecture in Purdue University, (52, 31, 26).Or contact Djinn Dasmijn, Build-off Coordinator, for more information.Entries are due no later than June 9, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. SLT.

On Saturday May 26, RacerX Gullwing held this month's cross-sim Giant Snail Race. This would be the biggest so far this year, passing through dozens of sims on the mainland. Someone told me there were a total of about sixty sim crossings involved, and thus sixty more chances for something to go wrong.

The race started at a traffic circle in the southeast corner in the Fillip sim, at the northern edge of the mainland atol continent of Heterocera (Gemma Cleanslate wrote on the railroad there earlier). For about forty minutes since zipping past the "Motel 7" inn nearby, the snails slimed their way along the western coast of the land, going past some costal scenery.

Gareth8 Albatros, the winner of last month's race, was "pimped" out in a Union-Jack painted shell. He maintained a good-sized lead, and it looked like he was going to win again. But as they say in Second Life, "lag happens." And a few lag mishaps resulted in the pack catching up to him. At the finish line in Calleta, near the Hobo Railroad Infohub, it was a close finish, but Tindallia Soothsayer was the winner by less than a Giant Snail's length. Spoke Gareth, "Wow, that must be the closest finish ever!" Third was a name I'd never seen at the Snail Races before, Second Life blogger DrFran Babcock.

Crap Mariner does another of his "Angel of Death" SL9B machinimas, in which he thanks the various blogs and newsletters, Second Life Newser included, for getting the word about the anniversary event, as well as trying to get Marx Dudex to perform there, "The Angel Of Death tries to recruit Marx Dudek from The Listening Room to perform at SL9B, thanks the many blogs that have gotten the word out about SL9B, and... and... um... maybe you don't want to watch the ending."

I remember Marx performing at the SL8B Bay City exhibit, so maybe the Grim Reaper won't have to work so hard to persude her.

Grey Lupindo is back, and with another article. Checking back at the Virtual Museum of Architecture, she found a build-off contest for the best 50's drive-in restaurant. So who won, and how good they do? Details inside.

Memorial Day is a time for those in the United States to remember those veterans who died in service. And in a number of places on the Grid, there are memorials to the fallen. Some are fairly simple, others took a little time to make. But the message behind all is the same.

And the Grim Reaper is back yet again with another SL9B video, "So, the sims aren't open yet? Doesn't mean you can't start building NOW!"

Of Crap Mariner's build featured here, he calls it "a storytelling, writing, and spoken word build for SL9B. It's going to feature 100 word stories from various authors who have participated in my 100 word stories weekly challenges. If you've written any for the challenge that you're particularly proud of, let me know and I'll be glad to add them to the main viewer screen slideshow-thingy. Scattered around the build, I'd like to have notecard and landmark givers for venues and wavey-dashy writing challenges that feature spoken word and writing in SL.

"Descriptions, landmarks, SLURLs, posters... if you've got 'em, I want to add them to the piles and stacks of books to show Second Life that the writing and performance community is alive, thriving, and would love for creative people to come with us on our amazing journeys... even sharing some of their own!"

At Patriot Island tonight, there will be a live music benefit for the Wounded Warrior Benefit Project. "More than 30,000 troops have been injured in recent conflicts, many of them suffering traumatic brain injuries, amputations, and severe burns. Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) provides services and programs to ease their burdens and aid in the transition back to civilian life. ... Wounded Warriors concerts feature premier Second Life Talent monthly at Patriot Island." Frets Nirvana, whom organizes the benefits, stated they raised $9200 in 2011, and hope to make 12,000 dollars this year, "12 in 12."

Friday, May 25, 2012

Earlier this week, Bay City held it's Fourth Anniversary Parade. Open to all, a number of people volunteered to take part, from the Second Life Coast Guard to RacerX Gullwing's racing snails. It was an event to remember (and yours truly wasn't hit by lag too badly to cover it).

In a a reader submitted article from "Imogen," we read about Vitabela Dubrovna, a fashion designer on the Grid since 2008. Rather than rest on her laurels, she continues to produce interesting and provocative outfits.

"Elric Anatine presents information about Dragon NaturallySpeaking (voice-to-text and voice control). Recently, the ability to dictate directly into SL chat text areas has dramatically improved. This is one topic of discussion for this session, held May 26 at 2 p.m. (Pacific)."

Memorial Day Monday, May 28, 2012:2pm to 4pm slt (DJ Cath)4pm to 6pm slt (DJ Heath)5 pm slt (Special performance by the Second Life Cheerleading Squad**Join us for fireworks at 5pm slt in front of the Washington Monument**

Thursday, May 24, 2012

"A quick hello from The Angel Of Death regarding the 9th birthday of Second Life," by Crap Mariner. In recent days, six sims were added by an anonymous donor to the ten donated by the Dream Seeker Estates. And then came four more, for a total of twenty, "We have 7 full sims for your exhibits as well as 2 part sims, giving around 250 to 300 available plots. As of now we’ve received 125 applications, meaning we’re more or less halfway to filling them. This is pretty cool since we’ve only had applications open for around a week! It also means that if you haven’t applied yet, there’s still room for you, but don’t wait around till the last minute as you could miss out!" Two of the sims will be water, including one for exhibits, and the cake baker was named, Japanese artist Mikati Slade.

May is Book Island's Fifth Anniversary month, and the past few days have seen some special anniversary events. On Saturday May 19th, Book Island owner Selina Greene gave a talk to an audience about the history of Book Island. She thanked Arton Tripsa for her "incredible job" on the island in creating a "warm and relaxing environment," in addition to giving credit to Bobby (Barbara) Blackcinder, Angeline Blachere, and Sandor Zabelin (Alexander M Zoltai).

Following the talk, the floor was cleared, and people began to dance, the music provided by "Pirate DJ" Izzy Upsilon, whom was also noted for short stories and poetry at the island. Besides the DJ, a few others were in pirate getup as well.

Wednesday May 23rd brought more special events, such as a "Live Writing Event" by Aianna Oh, and a dance party with singer Chandra Deed. Saturday May 26 promises more special events, with live music events at the Book Island Dance Venue at Book Island (222, 42, 22). At 2 PM is guitarist Brendan Shoreland, and 3:15 PM singer Layna Chrome.

Book Island has a long history in Second Life. At one point it was in trouble when the owner was hit with some real life problems. But it quickly bounced back and today is a thriving community of writers with several events every week.

Hear ye! Hear ye! The Fringe is proud to present the Second Annual Renaissance Faire, running from the 3rd day of June through the 9th of June, to benefit Relay For Life of Second Life.

This year we would like to invite any and all of our fellow Relay teams to participate as well. Here are just a couple of the ways:

1) Host a 'mini-event' during the Faire with a live singer, contest, DJ, or other type of entertainment (try to keep to the 'Renaissance' theme please) and have your team's kiosk setup at the "stage" area during the event. To reserve a time slot, fill out the form at our site: http://renfairesl.wordpress.com/entertainers/ (please put your team name somewhere in the description field), or contact Rendal Constantineau in world.

2) Donate items to be sold in RFL vendors, or reserve a shop or booth for your team to set up your team RFL vendors. To reserve a shop/booth space for your team, fill out the 'Merchant' form at our site: http://renfairesl.wordpress.com/merchants/ (for teams, please place your team name in the "Business Name" field), or contact Rendal Constantineau in world.

**Time/shops/booths are on a first come, first serve basis, so reserve your spot soon!

If you have questions, or want more information, please contact Rendal Constantineau in world, or contact us via email at teamfringesl@gmail.com

Second Life isn't the first place one usually thinks of when it comes to looking for meditation and spiritual guidance. But there are places here where one can find people to help. Grease Coakes reports on a place holding classes on Brhama Yoga, where Guru Pramiil Magne teaches.

Last Friday, the Relay for Life Passionate Redheads team held a fundraising event party. A spinoff of the "Bid Me Bald" and "Bid Me Human" events, the team leader volunteered herself to be changed, and as to what she should be changed into, the crowd was given four choices.

Last Saturday, SL Newser got a note about a science group that holds occasional lectures in the Sci-Lands in Second Life.

"This island is designed as a pleasant environment for scholarly discussions and collaborations, and any other legitimate scientific and educational activities. ... We have a regular series of public lectures, every Saturday at 10 am SLT, in our large amphitheater on the NE corner of the sim. Please see the website for more details, the schedulre of upcoming talks, and the archive of the past ones: http://www.mica-vw.org/wiki/index.php/Popular_Talks . ... We also host Virtually Speaking Science on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at 6pm SLT, in our small amphitheater near the NW corner of the sim. Please see the website for more details, the schedule of upcoming talks, and the archive of the past ones. ... You can join the MICA - VW Astrophysics group in SL, and/or email paradox.olbers@gmail.com to be added to the email list for event announcements."

Giulon Ragu (Giuseppe Longo) was giving the lecture on May 19th, "Planets and Perception," describing how flaws in human vision led to a few "misconceptions and plain blunders" in astronomy, and how these same observations of the sky led to better understanding on how our eyes work. An audio recording can be found here.

The Large MICA Auditorium, pictured above, is at StellaNova (129, 123, 31), and the smaller one at (66, 211, 30). StellaNova is a couple sims south of the International Space Museum.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

It's a week full of events in Second Life. Book Island has a number of special events this week. Virtual Ability Island has a talk on the "Dragon Naturally Speaking" talk to text device. And the Relay for Life has a number of events, including the Home & Garden Expo and the Breedables Fair. And in addition our the regularly scheduled DJ & live music events, book & poetry readings, talk shows, and more.

So what happened to Netera, whom took an indefinite hiatus from writing articles? She's still busy at her Coffee Lounge, where she continues to interview musicians and others in front of a live audience at the Terric sim every Saturday. On May 12, she held a special night show, her usual time being at 10 or 11AM, for Solidspace Merlin. After some questions and answers, Solid performed for the small crowd. Despite some heckler trying to spoil the show with a griefing gesture, the show went well, and the audience applauded.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Last week, the Burn2 community lost one among them when Kev Sweetwater passed away. On Saturday May 19th, a memorial service/wake was held for him at Deep Hole, attended by his friends in the Burners, the Tombstone RP, and elsewhere. The end of the service was marked as only the Burn2 community can: with a ceremonial temple burn.

About a month ago, Gemma Cleanslate reported on a controversy about Second Life's Byngo games. Today, changes have been made to the satisfaction to Linden Lab, and the game is back. So what do the Byngo designers and players have to say about the new version of the game? Gemma Cleanslate takes a look.

But there was also some sad news. Kev Sweetwater, best known for his role in the Burn2 community, passed away at the age of 35. A wake followed by a memorial bonfire was held for him Saturday evening, May 19th.

On Friday evening May 18th, Mount St. Helens in the Steelhead Estates erupted. The event began sometime around 7PM SL time. Eugenia Burton, a resident of Steelhead, provided the following picture, showing huge, billowing clouds of ash rising into the air, and the skies a striking shade of blood red. The mountaintop was gone, and much of St. Helens scarred, blackened trunks of trees on the sides of the volcano knocked over.

Yours truly wasn't able to get to the event, or the volcano party that was planned to take place by the lake near St. Helens (provided the ash cloud didn't blow their way). But stopping by the following morning, there was still an ash cloud over St. Helens. The event was more ash and less lava than a similar eruption in August 2011.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

This was done some time ago, but held onto it because of certain Japanese-inspired cartoons of a clearly adult nature. So for a time I just distributed it to a few friends online. No one saw a problem though, so here it is.

When first set up, Castaway Cove was the scene of regular events, both dancing and primtionary games. But more recently not many events had been held there. So it was decided to shut down the club after one last event. However, some last minute help arrived.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Last weekend, Luskwood, one of Second Life's oldest communities held a special event: a skunk party. So fans of the black and white furry avatar, both Lusk regulars and occasional visitors, dropped over to Club Eltee Head where they danced to the music. And while some of the puns stunk, everyone enjoyed the tunes.

"The Path is an Exquisite Corpse narrative created by virtual world artists. They were by order of scene: Bryn Oh, Colin Fizgig, Marcus Inkpen, Desdemona Enfield, Douglas Story, Maya Paris, Claudia222 Jewell, Scottius Polke and Rose Borchovski.

The artists were given a random order and upon composing a short narrative would then pass it on to the following artist in the sequence who would then add to it and continue passing it on until reaching the final artist.

Thanks everyone the artists really made it easy for me to film. ... I only use SL for my machinima and as untouched as possible. I build on my region called Immersiva. Also is a group of the same name if you would like to hear of new openings, the only drawback being you have to listen to me blather﻿ on about things sometimes."

The Sail4Life team, representing SL's sailing community during Relay for Life, will hold a Poker Run on Sunday, May 20, 2-5 p.m. SLT. To enter the five-card stud sailing game, participants begin at Fishers Island Yacht Club (FIYC) at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Schooner%20Run/214/11/22, pick up playing cards at five locations around the Blake Sea, return to FIYC for three more cards and a party. Best hand or hands of five cards wins the Poker Run. Winner receives a Juli Designs Fair Wind, a truly classy and exclusive sailboat. Prizes for all who enter.

Party begins at 2 p.m. and features Mamaa Saiz Live! at 4 p.m. Everyone is invited to participate in the Poker Run, sail anything that floats, see the Blake Sea community, and help find a cure for cancer. Please use low prim, low script water craft.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Recently, a good friend of mine, Alleara Snoodle, experienced what I thought would never happen. The genius whom had been so helpful time and time again, more often than not unrecognized, was suspended by Linden Labs for the "crime" of insulting a Linden for not doing his job. But looking back, this was just the latest example of the Lab's history of turning on those whom have done Second Life good.

Sheriff Fuzzball Ortega relayed to Second Life Newser that their nearby dormant volcano, Mount St. Helens was expected to erupt sometime today, "maybe twice." By some errie coincidence, it's also the birthday of Tensai Hilra. There will be a party held in honor of both the birthday and the "bewm" at 7PM SL time near the mountain. The scientists (or madboys and madgirls, depending on who you ask) assure nothing will go wrong.

Noted Second Life artist Bryn Oh, creator of noted displays such as the Rabicorn series, announced a new exhibition by she and several other artist was up. A sequel to an earlier exhibit, "The Path," this one is called "Further Along the Path."

Further along the Path is an immersive project based around the exquisite corpse concept sometimes used by the Surrealists. Essentially, each artist adds to a composition in sequence. Eight artists were invited to stand upon one of eight different coloured boxes I had set up. Once all had chosen a box to stand on, a chart was rezzed which listed the order of colours which would dictate the order by which the artists would create a scene for the narrative.

So for example, if red were first on the chart then the artist standing on the red cube would begin the narrative. If blue were next then the artist on the blue cube would continue the narrative after seeing the dialogue written by the artist on the red cube who began the story. The artist who goes first composes the initial start to a narrative. They then pass on this segment to the artist next on the list. That artist would write up a continuation of the narrative and pass it on to the third artist. This would continue until reaching the eighth and final artist.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Last weekend held a number of happenings on the Grid. Among them were the Relay for Life's "Halfway There Fair." In the Relay, the Halfway There Fair marks the halfway point from the kickoff of the fundraising season to the Relay walk at the end.

Relay for Life of Second Life is hosting the Halfway There Fair May 12-20, 2012. A festival that opens midway through our fundraising season, the Halfway There Fair is an opportunity for teams and committee to come together and play, smile, celebrate accomplishments and catch our breath for an awesome second half of the season. This weekend features many fun activities including live music entertainment, rides and game activities and the first annual "International Relay Festival".

The sim "Halfway There Fair" certainly looked like there was a lot to do there when I teleported there. There was a roller coaster, a water slide, a merry-go-round, and a number of other amusement park rides. At one corner of the sim was a huge circle of national flags. But the main activity was at the Maypole stage, where people gathered around to dance to the music of the DJ there.

Showing up on Sunday, May 13th, the most people I saw were on Sunday night when about a couple dozen were present at the stage dancing to Trader1 Whiplash cranking out the DJ tunes. There were a variety of noted Relayers, including Sheriff Fuzzball and Eugine of the Steelhead Salmons. There was also a "Purple People Eater" avatar. At one point, Sabine McGettin came by, and danced on stage with two other ladies.

The event of the evening was the "bronzing," or donating to the active teams with smaller totals until their amounts were at least to the 10,000 Linden level it took to reach Bronze status, such as "Pirates Crew," "Team NRRA," "BattleBeast Dragons" and more. The result was a much larger list of Bronze-ranked teams, over sixty in total. The dancing and music went on late into the night.

The weekend saw a number of other Relay Events, including the "Bid Me Human" by the Passionate Redheads on Friday May 11th.

Gracie Kendal, known as Kristine Schomaker in real life, announced yesterday her "1000 Avatar Project" will soon be taken down from the Grid. Starting in October 2010, she had taken her 1000th avatar picture by Jan 2011 and kept on going to 2000, which she reached later that year.

I want to thank you all so much for your love and support in following and being part of the 1000+ Avatar Project. I am so very proud of the work I have created here and I am glad I have been able to share it with the Second Life community. I think the work speaks for itself in showing the wonderful diversity that we all share here. The lives we create and live and the imagination that you all have shared shows that Second Life is much more than… well the media makes it out to be. I am proud to be a member of the Second Life community and I will continue to pass on its wonders, its capabilities and I will continue to forge ahead as one of the pioneers of this new media art form.

The project has gone through so much since it started in October 2010. I have published 2 books, the installation itself has moved several times and most recently I created a mixed reality installation/performance using a selection from the project in an exhibit in Los Angeles and Second Life.

The whole experience of shooting the portraits, working with my great friend Nikki on publishing the books, putting together the RL/SL art installation and standing back to see what I have done is something I will never forget. I have met so many amazing people along the way. more then 2000 of them )

Some people have asked me, why I don’t go for 3000 or 10,000 avatars now. At first I kind of laughed it off and said… we’ll see. But as with my paintings, I know when I am finished. It is just a feeling you get. You look at the work you have created and you just know. It is done.